Pupil PremiuM

What is the Pupil Premium?

At Unity City Academy, our vision begins with the following sentence:

“Everyone has a determination to succeed, a love of learning, pride in their school and strength of character.”

At Unity City Academy we believe that a child’s achievement should be determined by their ability and not by the circumstances of their birth. In order to excel, we have a responsibility to support students who are disadvantaged, providing them with the opportunity to progress in line with non-Pupil Premium students.

Pupil Premium is additional funding that the Government gives to schools and academies. This funding is targeted at students facing the greatest disadvantage.

Students targeted by Pupil Premium are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years (FSM Ever 6), those who have been looked after continuously by the Local Authority for more than six months and those whose parents are serving in the Armed Forces.

Pupil Premium allocation is defined as ‘the best way to address the current underlying inequalities between children eligible for free school meals (FSM) and their wealthier peers by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most’ – DfE 2012.

The Pupil Premium funding enables Unity City Academy to enhance learning provision and experiences for the disadvantaged and all vulnerable groups.

The impact of Pupil Premium funding is a key focus area within all schools and academies under the new Ofsted Framework. Schools and academies must demonstrate the impact of their Pupil Premium expenditure.

How is Pupil Premium calculated?

Pupil Premium is calculated from the data captured during the School Census in January and May each year. Pupil Premium funding is then made available to schools and academies for use during the following academic year, running from September through to August.

2018-2019

For each student identified as being eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any point in the last six years the Academy will receive additional funding of £935.

For each looked after student (LAC), the Academy will receive additional funding of £1900.

For each student adopted from care, the Academy will receive additional funding of £1900.

For each student whose parents are serving in the armed forces, the Academy will receive additional funding of £300.

As an Academy we monitor and assess the impact that the Pupil Premium funding in a number of ways:

Pupil Premium monitoring via Students at Risk meetings (ELT)

Member of the SLT having specific responsibility for Pupil Premium attainment

Senior Leadership Team meetings

Extended Leadership Team meetings

Governors meetings

Barriers to progress

We identify and address barriers to learning faced by individual pupils through:

everyday teaching practice; analysis of records;

discussions with pupils;

parents and agencies involved;

rigorous regular tracking of pupil attainment and progress, especially in our dedicated, solution-focused “narrowing the gap” challenge meetings in which all disadvantaged children (including higher ability PP children) are discussed in detail with senior leaders, the effectiveness of strategies to overcome their barriers to learning evaluated, and a new tailored programme put in place.

The main barriers to educational achievement faced by eligible pupils at Unity City Academy:

Broken family structures – family stress and low resilience

Low parental engagement/parenting skills

Safeguarding and welfare issues which may lead to Social Services involvement

Loss and bereavement

Trauma and other mental health issues in the family and/or child

Frequent moves of country and school – some have no recourse to public funds

Socio-economic disadvantage i.e. poverty

Housing issues i.e. massive overcrowding, temporary poor quality accommodation and friction with neighbours and other members of the community